This took alot of work in the darkroom but i still think some of the detail has been lost at the top.The dress is plain anyway, i like the composition but overall I m not sure if the image does anything, feedback appreciated thank you dress and hands
okay, i've noticed somthing about all of your posts . . . they are all a little to tight of shots for me. i feel like this could be so much better if i saw somthing significant to who it is, a face or somthing.
Lolly, of the 13 photos you have up on Flikr, which is the one you like best? Which is the one you like the least? I'm just trying to gauge what your personal esthetic/style is.
im not a huge fan of the two shots of yours ive seen so far (summer one) (this one) i dont know what it is about them. i think its the lack of clarity. i think you use the automatic settings too much. and i think the focus was set onto the wrong thing and not your subject because of the autofocus. also (just my opinion) you shouldnt turn something into a b&w picture unless you have a high resolution camera, it makes it look 100x more grainy... imo. once again its all just my .02
^ im pretty sure that when one works in a darkroom one is using film.... on to the picture, out of focus could be fixed with a smaller aperature f8-f16? if you have the light i also think there needs to be more contrast, a fuller range of tones. maybe its the scan, but to me it looks like your blacks are only halfway there...IE they only look black in compairson to the rest of the picture, but held next to the blackest that paper can go...they might look more dark dark greyish. so if you expanded the tonal range of what we see here, i think it would look better. in my experience, i would do that by increasing the magenta a bit (if you have contrast filters) and adjust exposure time until i found at what time i get the blackest black possible in parts of the shirt. from here i would dodge and burn as necessary to get the rest of the picture right. This might mean you let it go to the time when your blacks are done, then dodge the shirt to let the arm and backround develope more or it might mean you let the arm and backround go till its good then burn the heck out of the shirt (without of course loosing anydetail).....at least thats what i would do
I agree looking at it i think that it could take alot more work to get the true blacks and whites to which you refer. the picture was taken with a black and white iso 200 film- hence grain and a fully manual slr camera so no auto anything I never realised before that my images are all so tightly cropped- i dont know how not too! Out of all my flickr images i like the lips best- but looking through the images none are really alike
That's cool. Maybe that's just how you "see" things, and there is nothing more to say about that. :thumbup: IMO, if anything this particular shot (and I've not looked at any of your others) needs even more of a crop. If it's meant to be a hand study, then omit the arms and the bit of breastline that is at the top. It's distracting from the subject. Look at that slice of "space" between the elbow and the dress. Crop it to right there, removing it. Immediately it is a more effective shot. I like the way the hands are clutching. Is she nervous? Pensive? Shy?Why? What's going on? The fact that the pose of the hands makes me ponder these questions proves this shot is effective - so, nicely done! That said, it IS out of focus, so I'm missing the texture of the skin. You did this in the darkroom, so it's either a bad scan, a poorly focused print, or you have a soft negative. Did you use a grain focuser? If the neg is sharp, by all means try the crop and print it again. It has great portential!
If I may be blunt, the image does nothing for me, but it could work well as a series. i.e. Shoot the shots horizontal and change the position of the hands, then print three or four images horizontally on one sheet of paper. I agree with "terri" crop tighter. As far as lighting is concerned, use your main light source [a large light] from the right and a reflector on the left. It will give you more drama and will [should] pick up more detail in the dress. www.philipweirphotography.com
